Pictures and facts about the Eastern hog-nosed skunk

Eastern Hog-nosed Skunks (Conepatus leuconotus) inhabit eastern parts of Mexico and Southern Texas. This animal can live in a wide variety of habitats, such as grasslands, forests, scrub lands, coastal plains and even agricultural grounds.

Among the skunks of North America, the Eastern Hog-nosed Skunk is the biggest. It has a long face, short ears and a broad yet bare nose. An individual typically has strong, curved claws, which are used for digging. Akin to all its relatives, the Eastern Hog-nosed Skunk has a scent gland that produces a strong, undesirable fluid which smelss really bad and chases its predators away. Male Eastern Hog-nosed Skunks are bigger than the distaff side, about 18%.

Ordinarily, these skunks are akin to their striped relatives, but the Eastern Hog-nosed Skunk do not have the white line which the Striped skunks possess. The pelage of these skunks are mainly black, with a solitary, broad white line that traverses the whole back, from the head all the way to the tail's area.

This skunk is very rare, and as such, the behavioral patterns are not well-known. Chances are, they are solitary and nocturnal. At present, the Eastern Hog-nosed Skunk is classified under category 2, and this basically is "Needs Careful Monitoring", but it would not be surprising at all if very, very soon, they would become endangered.

Interesting fact: This breed of skunk and the Common hog-nosed skunk do not live together, but there are expert mammalogists who assert that in all likelihood, they could very well intergrade. Intergrade means to join the two kinds slowly via the breeding process.